Typical foundations and related support structures for onshore, large-scale wind turbines are formed by on-site pouring of a large, thick, horizontal, heavily reinforced cast-concrete base and a vertical cast pedestal installed over the base. Such foundation structures are referred to as a gravity foundation or a spread foundation. This requires a massive mobilization of resources to form, place steel rebar and pour concrete, and requires several weeks for construction and subsequent concrete curing prior to the tower erection work. This results in cost increases and inefficiencies in the construction and erection process. Further, the process of pouring such a massive concrete structure requires diligence to avoid improper curing and is replete with potential problems including the sophisticated planning and coordination required to pour large amounts of concrete per footing, in one continuous pour, without having cold joints. The volume of required concrete creates logistical problems such as requiring coordinating with multiple local batch plants for the delivery of the concrete using a large number of concrete trucks to the job site in a timely and organized manner. A further problem is the complexity of installing the rebar assembly into the foundation which requires assembling layers of steel reinforcing meshes across the full area of the foundation, while maintaining a strict geometric layout and specific spacing. This rebar assembly is made of extremely long and heavy rebar which requires the use of a crane in addition to multiple workers to install all the components of the assembly. The rebar often exceeds forty feet in length, thus requiring special transportation logistics. The installation of the rebar is a labor intensive and time-consuming task requiring a large number of well-trained workers.
In addition, conventional on-site pouring of concrete foundations can easily be disrupted by weather conditions and other site conditions, which can adversely affect the implementation of such a large-scale pour of concrete.
Another problem is thermal cracking of concrete due to overheating of the concrete mass during curing. When concrete is cast in massive sections, the temperature can reach high levels and the risk of thermal cracking becomes very high. Thermal cracking compromises the structural integrity of concrete foundations.
Another problem of the conventional gravity or spread foundations is their weight and monolithic final form. A wind turbine generator machine and tower has a lifecycle of generally 20 years, after which the steel machine is valuable for recycled steel. The conventional foundation however, is abandoned in the ground and cannot be effectively reused, or removed from the land.
To avoid these problems, it is known to pre-cast wind turbine foundation components off-site. An example of a concrete foundation formed from pre-cast components that are created off-site from the intended foundation site are described in U.S. Patent Application Publication No. 2017/0030045 the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.